CNN's Tapper asks why Trump admin's memes are 'disturbingly similar' to hate groups

Multiple agencies within President Donald Trump's administration have a habit of copying rhetoric from far-right extremist hate groups in posts to official social media accounts, according to CNN host Jake Tapper.

In a Thursday segment, Tapper observed how the U.S. Department of Labor recently posted a video depicting President George Washington over various images from history with the text: "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage. Remember who you are, American." Tapper pointed out that this was "disturbingly similar to the Nazislogan: 'Ein volk. Ein reich. Ein führer,'which means: 'One people. Onerealm. One leader.'"

"Of course, it's not the samephrase, but there are criticsout there, including someconservatives, who suggest thatthere are echoes that aredisturbing," Tapper said. "The Labor Departmentdid not respond to repeatedrequests for comment on this."

Tapper also called attention to a post from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), showing a B-2 stealth bomber flying over a man on horseback. The post includes the text "we'll have our home again." The CNN host noted that this is the same name of a song with strong anti-immigrant themes that "has a lot of appeal to white nationalist groups."

"The song lyrics featurelines that evoke sentimentsoften expressed by conservativesabout immigration, such as, 'in our own towns we're foreignersnow,'" Tapper said. "And perhaps it waschosen simply for that reason.Or maybe it's just acoincidence."

While the Department of Labor didn't respond to CNN's request for comment, DHS told the network the phrase was a reference to the "20-plus million illegalaliens invading the country." Tapper also quoted the DHS as saying "this is why people don't takethe media seriously" when asked about criticism from conservatives.

Finally, Tapper displayed a post from the official White House X account showing two Greenlandic dog sled teams facing a crossroads, with one leading toward the White House and the other leading toward the Great Wall of China and Moscow's Red Square with the text: "Which way, Greenland man?" Tapper acknowledged that while "which way, blank man" is a common meme, it originated from "avowed white supremacist" author William Gaylord Simpson, who wrote a book entitled: "Which Way, Western Man?"

"Now, we're sure that lots offolks familiar with online memeculture are completely unawareof the hateful origins of thatmeme. And that could, of course,be true for the Trumpadministration as well," Tapper said. "It'sentirely possible that President Trump's rather meme-happy groupis using some of these imageswith no idea that they mighthave repugnant origins orechoes. But these are just a fewexamples of many. And after acertain number of them, onewonders if this is all accidental, if it's all a coincidence, why isn't there an effort to be a little bit more sensitive about it?"

Watch the segment below:

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